When we give clients investment advice, we always recommend that they have a diversified portfolio of assets. In this weeks article, we are going to look at what diversification is. What is diversification? Diversification is a method of reducing the risk that your money is exposed to. This is done by investing in a selection […]
The world of pensions can be pretty confusing. There are loads of different pension types and while primarily, they do the same thing i.e. saving for retirement, there are some differences between each plan. When someone leaves employment, two of the options they have is to transfer their benefits to a PRSA or a Buy […]
In March 2014, Vanguard published a paper quantifying how financial advisors can add value to their clients. Through their research, they concluded that an advisor can add “about 3%” to their clients. Now, not all of their strategies will lead to consistently higher annual returns but will add value over time. The paper found seven ways […]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about risk and return, how the markets reward you for taking risk by giving you a great expected return. This week, I am going to write about a type of investment that is marketing as saying you can enjoy equity type returns (high risk) while taking deposit type risk […]
The deadline for submitting a Personal Fund Threshold (PFT) notification on 31 July 2015 is fast approaching. While it only affects a few, if it does apply to you, it is very important to make the notification in order to avoid a very hard taxation system. So, what is a Personal Fund Threshold Standard Fund […]
Clients come into me with lots of plans for what they want to do in the future; renovate an old house, go scuba diving in tropical waters, own a log cabin, even just maintain their current lifestyle. All these ambitions are based on their ability to earn an income. What is income protection? Income protection […]
Whenever I talk to a client about investing, at some point the conversation turns to risk. For most, I see a change in their facial expression where they start thinking of their money disappearing completely, with no prospect of getting any of it back. This is not what risk is about. Risk versus Return If […]
This week’s blog is a guest post by Jim Parker, Head of the Communications and Marketing team in Australia for Dimensional Fund Advisors What is a financial advisor for? One view is that advisors have unique insights into market direction that give their clients an advantage. But of the many roles a professional advisor should play, […]
Life cover has two main roles; (1) replace lost income and (2) cover large debts. While it is cheap when you are young, it is another expense that you are committing to paying for most of your working life. There are enough demands on your money, so why pay for something you don’t need. Today, […]
Dalbar published their annual Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behaviour recently. This report compares the performance of the stock market versus what investors actually get. In 2014, the average mutual fund investor underperformed the S&P 500 by 8.19%. Why do investors consistently underperform the market? Dalbar found the biggest reason that investor underperform the market is […]